Padma and I sat down next to each other on one side of the table; I was
next to the window opposite Sally-Anne. 'Ooh,' she said as we sat down,
'are you two twins?' Padma and I smiled. We were used to this question,
which had a blatantly obvious answer. Mind you, I supposed we'd be asked
that quite a few times once we got to Hogwarts. 'Yes,' I replied, 'I'm
Parvati...' '...and I'm Padma'. Then Lavender asked us where we were from,
and it all started from there. We talked about all sorts during the
journey, mainly about what we thought Hogwarts would be like. Sally-Anne
had no idea; as she was the oldest sibling, she was the first in her family
to go- aside from her parents. Lavender's cousin was starting his third
year, so she knew a lot about what to expect. Padma and I told them all
about Pabesh, and the work he had done since he passed his N.E.W.T.S. Then
there was the issue of houses... Pabesh was a Ravenclaw, and there was no
doubt in my mind that Padma would be too. Mother had been a Gryffindor when
she attended, but father went to a Wizard school near the Indus Valley, and
so the houses had been different. Lavender said that her cousin was in
Hufflepuff, but she didn't really fancy it herself. We spent a good deal of
time discussing each houses' qualities, although our list was rather short
for Slytherin.
Then, typically, our conversation turned to boys. After all, we were eleven years old, female, and heading towards a school where we would spend every hour of more or less every day of the year. You can't expect us to have not given consideration to the fact that we may well meet our future husband on our first day!
'Well, you'll never guess who's sitting in the compartment behind us!' Padma exclaimed. 'Who?' Sally-Anne and Lavender looked curious. 'Only the most famous wizard of our age...' Lavender gasped, 'No!' 'Yes!' Padma giggled, and I joined in with her to Anneounce: 'HARRY POTTER!!' we both laughed when we saw the looks of shock on the two girls' faces. 'Oh my goodness' squealed Sally-Anne, 'wait until I tell my parents!' 'Should we introduce ourselves, do you think?' Lavender asked with a cheeky smile, 'It'd be rude not to...' Padma stood up. 'I'll go and talk to him.' The three of us who remained broke into excited giggles as we watched my sister turn down the corridor, out of sight. She came back, rolling her eyes. 'There's someone in there with him now; he was alone when we got on. A boy with ginger hair was sitting with him and some girl was asking them about a toad...' she shrugged her shoulders 'never mind, there's plenty of time to introduce ourselves. We do have seven years, after all!'
By the time the Express pulled in at the station, we were firm friends. The four of us shared a boat across to the castle, twisting and turning to get a proper look at the castle, so much so that the boat was rocking all over the place. We soon stopped when Padma suddenly remembered that Pabesh had said something about there being a giant squid in the lake...
The great hall was breath taking. Pabesh had described the enchanted ceiling, but I could never have imagined how wonderful it looked to when you were standing underneath it. The floating candles were amazing, too. I really had to learn that spell! The sights were enough to almost make me forget that the whole of the school were looking at us. I felt quite nervous as we approached the sorting hat. Butterflies amassed in my stomach as it sang its song. Then Professor McGonagall began to call out students to come up and be sorted. It was at times like these when I wished our surname were earlier in the alphabet- I'd have less time to worry. Lavender was lucky- her surname was Brown. I watched as she gingerly walked up to the stool and placed the hat upon her head. She glanced up at the hat apprehensively, I supposed it was talking to her. She looked over at us and I sent her a nervous smile. Then the hat proclaimed 'GRYFFINDOR!' Lavender let out a huge sigh of relief, with a smile to match. She practically skipped to the table, where she was met with loud cheers. I grinned at her, then turned my attention back to the hat. It seemed an eternity as more and more students walked up to the stool. The time it took for the hat to decide which house varied between students, but still the intermittent cries rang through the hall: 'HUFFLEPUFF!' 'GRYFFINDOR!' GRYFFINDOR!' 'GRYFFINDOR!' 'SLYTHERIN!' 'HUFFLEPUFF!' 'RAVENCLAW!' 'SLYTHERIN!' McGonagall consulted her parchment, and called out 'Patil, Padma.' I shot her a sideways glance. Padma took a deep breath and started up the stairs. When she put on the hat, she seemed to be listening intently to whatever it was telling her. After about two minutes, the hat gave its verdict: 'RAVENCLAW!' I smiled; it could never have been anything else, really. My stomach gave a lurch as 'Patil, Parvati' rang out across the hall. I walked up to the hat, and placed it on my head, trying not to pay attention to the crowd of faces peering intently at me.
'Ah, another one I see? Two in one year! Now let me think... there's intellect, yes, and a great creativity. Very similar to your sister. But where to put you? You have great qualities; I see you are confident and keen. Yes, I know just where you belong-' I squeezed my eyes shut, and held my breath '-GRYFFINDOR!' I leapt to my feet and ran to the table. Lavender was cheering along with the rest, and I sat down on the bench next to her, she had asked a chubby boy with brown hair to make space for me. Opposite me sat an Irish boy with sandy hair, and next to him was a girl with mousy, frizzy hair who was busy talking to one of the prefects. Then it hit me- I wasn't going to be with Padma- I was on my own. It was a scary but exciting thought. I turned my attention back to the sorting. Sally-Anne was next up to the stool, and soon she became a Hufflepuff. The next name to be called brought an eerie hush over the hall: 'Potter, Harry'. Lavender let out a high-pitched squeak. 'He has to be in Gryffindor, he defeated You-Know-Who when he was just a baby' 'if he's not brave enough for Gryffindor, I'll eat that sorting hat!' I looked down the table to locate who was speaking. It was the ginger-haired twins from the train. They must be incredibly alike to be put in the same house, I mused.
The hat seemed to take for ever with Harry. I supposed it was a difficult decision, he'd defeated the most powerful dark-wizard that ever existed, then spent his life with Muggles, or so I'd read. The sorting hat bellowed 'GRYFFINDOR!!' and our table exploded. The twins were jumping around, grabbing one of their friends shouting 'We got Potter! We got Potter!' Once the celebrations had died down, the sorting continued. There were only a few left waiting now, and two boys became the final Gryffindors for our year.
With a wave of his hand, Professor Dumbledore started the feast. I had never seen such food! As we ate, we began to get acquainted with our fellow Gryffindors. The girl opposite us was Hermione, she was Muggle-born; Seamus was next to her, and Neville sat next to me. Harry Potter was busy talking to Ron; I guessed he was the boy from his compartment. I turned out that the twins, and the prefect Hermione was talking to, were his brothers. Again I wondered why some families were in the same houses, but others weren't.
After the feast, we were lead up to our common room and dormitories. Our room was large and round, with three four-poster beds. It was gorgeous. Lavender bounced onto the left-had bed 'Isn't this exciting!' she gushed. 'I wonder what everyone else will be like?' I asked. 'Well, let's unpack, and we can go down into the common room and meet everyone.' said Hermione. 'Ok' we agreed. I began to unpack my trunk, almost trembling with the thrill of finally being at Hogwarts.
Then, typically, our conversation turned to boys. After all, we were eleven years old, female, and heading towards a school where we would spend every hour of more or less every day of the year. You can't expect us to have not given consideration to the fact that we may well meet our future husband on our first day!
'Well, you'll never guess who's sitting in the compartment behind us!' Padma exclaimed. 'Who?' Sally-Anne and Lavender looked curious. 'Only the most famous wizard of our age...' Lavender gasped, 'No!' 'Yes!' Padma giggled, and I joined in with her to Anneounce: 'HARRY POTTER!!' we both laughed when we saw the looks of shock on the two girls' faces. 'Oh my goodness' squealed Sally-Anne, 'wait until I tell my parents!' 'Should we introduce ourselves, do you think?' Lavender asked with a cheeky smile, 'It'd be rude not to...' Padma stood up. 'I'll go and talk to him.' The three of us who remained broke into excited giggles as we watched my sister turn down the corridor, out of sight. She came back, rolling her eyes. 'There's someone in there with him now; he was alone when we got on. A boy with ginger hair was sitting with him and some girl was asking them about a toad...' she shrugged her shoulders 'never mind, there's plenty of time to introduce ourselves. We do have seven years, after all!'
By the time the Express pulled in at the station, we were firm friends. The four of us shared a boat across to the castle, twisting and turning to get a proper look at the castle, so much so that the boat was rocking all over the place. We soon stopped when Padma suddenly remembered that Pabesh had said something about there being a giant squid in the lake...
The great hall was breath taking. Pabesh had described the enchanted ceiling, but I could never have imagined how wonderful it looked to when you were standing underneath it. The floating candles were amazing, too. I really had to learn that spell! The sights were enough to almost make me forget that the whole of the school were looking at us. I felt quite nervous as we approached the sorting hat. Butterflies amassed in my stomach as it sang its song. Then Professor McGonagall began to call out students to come up and be sorted. It was at times like these when I wished our surname were earlier in the alphabet- I'd have less time to worry. Lavender was lucky- her surname was Brown. I watched as she gingerly walked up to the stool and placed the hat upon her head. She glanced up at the hat apprehensively, I supposed it was talking to her. She looked over at us and I sent her a nervous smile. Then the hat proclaimed 'GRYFFINDOR!' Lavender let out a huge sigh of relief, with a smile to match. She practically skipped to the table, where she was met with loud cheers. I grinned at her, then turned my attention back to the hat. It seemed an eternity as more and more students walked up to the stool. The time it took for the hat to decide which house varied between students, but still the intermittent cries rang through the hall: 'HUFFLEPUFF!' 'GRYFFINDOR!' GRYFFINDOR!' 'GRYFFINDOR!' 'SLYTHERIN!' 'HUFFLEPUFF!' 'RAVENCLAW!' 'SLYTHERIN!' McGonagall consulted her parchment, and called out 'Patil, Padma.' I shot her a sideways glance. Padma took a deep breath and started up the stairs. When she put on the hat, she seemed to be listening intently to whatever it was telling her. After about two minutes, the hat gave its verdict: 'RAVENCLAW!' I smiled; it could never have been anything else, really. My stomach gave a lurch as 'Patil, Parvati' rang out across the hall. I walked up to the hat, and placed it on my head, trying not to pay attention to the crowd of faces peering intently at me.
'Ah, another one I see? Two in one year! Now let me think... there's intellect, yes, and a great creativity. Very similar to your sister. But where to put you? You have great qualities; I see you are confident and keen. Yes, I know just where you belong-' I squeezed my eyes shut, and held my breath '-GRYFFINDOR!' I leapt to my feet and ran to the table. Lavender was cheering along with the rest, and I sat down on the bench next to her, she had asked a chubby boy with brown hair to make space for me. Opposite me sat an Irish boy with sandy hair, and next to him was a girl with mousy, frizzy hair who was busy talking to one of the prefects. Then it hit me- I wasn't going to be with Padma- I was on my own. It was a scary but exciting thought. I turned my attention back to the sorting. Sally-Anne was next up to the stool, and soon she became a Hufflepuff. The next name to be called brought an eerie hush over the hall: 'Potter, Harry'. Lavender let out a high-pitched squeak. 'He has to be in Gryffindor, he defeated You-Know-Who when he was just a baby' 'if he's not brave enough for Gryffindor, I'll eat that sorting hat!' I looked down the table to locate who was speaking. It was the ginger-haired twins from the train. They must be incredibly alike to be put in the same house, I mused.
The hat seemed to take for ever with Harry. I supposed it was a difficult decision, he'd defeated the most powerful dark-wizard that ever existed, then spent his life with Muggles, or so I'd read. The sorting hat bellowed 'GRYFFINDOR!!' and our table exploded. The twins were jumping around, grabbing one of their friends shouting 'We got Potter! We got Potter!' Once the celebrations had died down, the sorting continued. There were only a few left waiting now, and two boys became the final Gryffindors for our year.
With a wave of his hand, Professor Dumbledore started the feast. I had never seen such food! As we ate, we began to get acquainted with our fellow Gryffindors. The girl opposite us was Hermione, she was Muggle-born; Seamus was next to her, and Neville sat next to me. Harry Potter was busy talking to Ron; I guessed he was the boy from his compartment. I turned out that the twins, and the prefect Hermione was talking to, were his brothers. Again I wondered why some families were in the same houses, but others weren't.
After the feast, we were lead up to our common room and dormitories. Our room was large and round, with three four-poster beds. It was gorgeous. Lavender bounced onto the left-had bed 'Isn't this exciting!' she gushed. 'I wonder what everyone else will be like?' I asked. 'Well, let's unpack, and we can go down into the common room and meet everyone.' said Hermione. 'Ok' we agreed. I began to unpack my trunk, almost trembling with the thrill of finally being at Hogwarts.